Shanghai'd

Counting Down.

Our flight is almost exactly 21 days from right now, and the past week went by in a flurry of getting sick and recovering, unpacking from Tibet (including unpacking the 7G of pictures Tim took - posted soon), Halloween and some social activities. I expect the next few weeks to be equally busy, hopefully not with getting sick, but definitely with packing and social activities.

First off, some comments about Halloween. We had a party at work, where I witnessed 150 Chinese colleagues' first Halloween . Everyone was really excited, it was a very fun day. Everyone dressed up, with probably 25% dressing as pirates. I went as bamboo, a complement's to my friend's panda suit, but was asked if I was a green pirate (must have been the bandana). I met one pirate who upon seeing me held up his plastic right hand and exclaimed, "I'm a hooker!". I tried to explain the difference between that and Capatin Hook, but it wasn't well understood (perhaps I wasn't being graphic enough), and he still insisted on his self-title. We had trick or treating, pumpkin carving and a party. That night, Tim and I went to a party with some US hiphop music and we danced (Tim went as a guy from the ipod commercial), which was the first exercise I'd had since riding in Tibet.

We are thinking about getting our stuff packed up. Some of the electronics are helping themselves out the door. Our soymilk machine spewed grey electrical smoke before blowing a fuse and being relegated to the trash. I murdered my laptop. I swear the oven is on its way out the door; my recent banana bread, corn bread and cookies were terrible (maybe its because I just can't bake... but we can blame it on the oven). And my straightening iron didn't seem as hot as I remember it. Well, that's OK - 220V electronics won't be of too much use at home.

This week I expect to fly by. We are going to see Kanye West tonight, tomorrow is Tim's birthday and we are going out of town for a long weekend tacked onto the end of a business trip for Tim. I guess we will start packing next week...

I am still feeling really strange about leaving. Today, I ran into someone from the US office who was one of the first people I worked with in Shanghai. He was reminiscing on that time, and recalled the "fire and passion" I had for China and learning the language and the culture. And as I stood there, telling him how I was ready to pack it up (I am), I got this weird feeing of somehow being jaded. I have a bit of a lame duck feeling at work, having transitioned many responsibilities to my replacement. But under all that is the excitement about going home, and starting a new job (still at AMD for me). I guess that is what they call bitter-sweet. :-)